Chasing the Dragon
by Mudpie
Summary: AC198: As young girls, Wufei and Meiran were told their love was wrong. Now, living in squalor, Wufei waits for her dear airen to come and take her away...(Yuri, GenderSwitch, 5xM)
1. The Last Stop

Chasing the Dragon by Mudpie 

Rating: R  
Warnings: Uh...Let's see here. Graphic drug abuse, prostitution, Girl! Wufei, and of course, angst.  
Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, Duo would be a cross dresser and Quatre would be a power-game loving little freak. 

I'd like to think it's pretty obvious that I don't own it. 

------------------------- 

Deep in the red light district of Beijing, a thin figure is huddled in a filthy brothel, awaiting her first customer of the night. 

The surroundings, although filthy, are extremely ordered, as if keeping condoms arranged by size, flavor and texture will prevent her dreary existance from crashing down around her. 

There was a time, she remembers, wrapping the thin, stained sheets around her emaciated form. There was a time when my soul was dedicated to justice. To my darling Nataku. 

As the sun begins to set, she pulls a battered notebook out from between the mattress and bed frame, and begins to write in a precise soldier's hand. 

--

19 Februrary, AC 198

Why did you have to die? 

I miss you so much that sometimes the world becomes too much--this cheap whorehouse, the disgusting, sadistic customers--I miss fighting for justice, but there's no justice in the world, no strength in the world. My only two reasons for life are gone-lost in the wind. 

But I'm sure this is all rather confusing to you, airen. 

It was beautiful, the day you died, did you know that? The sun was shining...or at least, the lights were bright that day, and your beautiful, smiling face-the memory still brings tears to my eyes. You were strong, Meiran, the only strong woman I have ever known. 

After your death, I guess I just snapped. I chopped off my hair-but I saved it, of course, because you loved my hair so. 

That gundanium monster-the one I tried to save you with-I named it Nataku. I wasn't strong enough with my weak body-but with you by my side I could defeat him. 

I didn't want to hide who I was-it was Master O's idea that I masquerade as a man for my own protection. I wanted to show Oz how shameful they were-forcing a weak woman like myself to fight them. 

So I went to Earth. My eyes were still stinging with grief and I only wanted to destroy, to kill. 

I've got to go now, Meir. The sun is setting and the customers will be coming soon. 

---- 

With a sigh the slight Asian girl slides the notebook inbetween the soiled matress and bed frame. 

Pacing across the filthy floor to the small chest of drawers, Wufei paws through her meagre clothing and pulls out a see-through, silken red shirt with black buttons, and matching shorts. There's no reason for a whore to look disgusting. Quickly she strips and pulls on the skimpy outfit, kicking the dirty, baggy shirt she had on before under the bed. 

Digging deeper into the drawers, she pulls out a small plastic bag , a quarter full of precious white powder. Her thin hands start to shake now, and the former Gundam pilot places the bag on the drawers, before pulling out a rubber tourniquet, a lighter, a large spoon and a bottle of tepid water. 

With careful, practiced movements, the Shenlong pilot dips the large spoon into the white powder into the bag, allowing a small amount to fall onto the spoon. Delicately, her hands free of any shakes now that she knows her salvation is only minutes away, she removes the large spoon from the bag and a small amount of lemon juice onto the white powder. Grabbing the nearby bottle of water she quickly adds a splash of water, shaking the drug and water together so they dissolve properly. 

Wufei's free hand gropes for the lighter, her eyes fixed on the prize before her. With a quick twist of her fingers, the flame ignites and she holds it under the spoon until the white powder dissolves, turning the entire liquid into a milky white mix. 

The young girl throws the lighter back into the drawer and pulls out a syringe, needle sharp and gleaming in the dim electric light. With anxious hands, she puts the point in the milky mixture and pulls up on the stopper, pulling every last drop into the syringe. 

Deftly, she pushes down the stopper slightly, allowing a tiny amount of this precious nectar to escape its prison, insuring that there are no pockets of air within the mixture. To die with an unused syringe of heroin in her arm would be a terrible thing. 

With reverence the needle is placed on the drawer again. The tourniquet is then wrapped firmly around her stick-like arm, trapping blood just below her left elbow. 

Counting to ten, restraining the beast of craving wthin her, she waits for the artery itself to throb in her arm, then taps the vein with two fingers, quickly bringing it to the surface. Then she grabs the needle, plunging it into the her arm, but knowing just when to stop this painful self-torture, the Asian girl pushes down the stopper and allows this poision, this sick child of nature, into her body. 

Sighing with relief, she pulls the needle deftly from her arm and releases the rubber strap in one fluid movement. 

Perfectly still for just a moment, feeling the drug race quickly through her body, raising her temperature, her heart rate and making her feel truly alive--as if her and Nataku were together on the battlefield again, fighting for their lives. 

Her slanted chocolate brown eyes snap open, revealing dialted pupils. She is ready to work. 

----  
tbc update on saturday the 18th! 

more notes: I'd like to thank Lady Lye, who is my eternal muse, nagging me and eating gluten free pocky. And Ei Pi, for giving me bits of Chinese culture and language to work with. 

Airen-love, sort of the Chinese equivalent of 'koi'. 


	2. Some Devil

Chasing the Dragon  
by Mudpie 

Rating: R  
Warnings: Uh...Let's see here. Graphic drug abuse, prostitution, Girl! Wufei, and of course, angst. Also, a bit of implied 2x5!  
Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, Heero would sing. Constantly. And I'm talking song and dance NUMBERS. EVERY EPISODE! 

I'd like to think it's pretty obvious that I don't own it. 

------------

21 Februrary AC198 

Do you remember how ashamed my father was, seeing us together? Two girls-unnatural, and a waste of clan resources. We were a dying breed. 

But you were there with me. And I was there with you, at the very end. 

Sometimes I swear that I see you-whether it's on the bus or walking down the crowded streets of Beijing-I catch a flash of your dark hair, and my heart stops beating for just a second. Then I remember that you are gone, and you will never come back for me. 

---- 

The short teen looked around the filthy room yet again, the notebook open in her lap, then eyed the costume she had been ordered to wear with distaste. 

The top was a mockery of a traditional Chinese woman's blouse in pale pink, cropped nearly in half so that the bottom of the shirt barely brushed her ribs. She knew from experience that this blouse was to be left open, exposing the curve of her small breasts. 

Instead of a definite bottom, there were a collection of green and white shawls and sashes that were meant to be tied appealingly, but of course scantily, across her waist. 

"These costumes keep on getting worse and worse." She muttered to no one in particular, not enjoying the sound of her voice. It was rough, because the night before she had nearly been strangled by a particularly enthusiastic customer. 

Quickly Wufei grabbed a small hand mirror and a bottle of cheap concealer, expertly using the thin, powdery liquid to cover up the hand shaped bruises on her neck and the track marks, both old and new, running up both her arms from wrist to elbow. 

Using the hand mirror to examine her face, she snatched a thick kohl eyeliner pencil from the dilapitated, deftly lining her wide eyes so that she appears older, more mysterious. 

No lipstick is applied--many of these clients are married, and a lipstick stain would be far too hard to explain away. 

Tonight, a warm, balmy night, Wufei is on balcony duty, which means she stands outside her room on a tiny platform, trying to entice men into this den of sin and debauchery. 

She was very, very good at it. 

--------- 

After a quick line of cocaine, she dressed in the disgusting, dishonorable costume and stepped into the comfortable evening, bustling with businessmen taking quick 'shortcuts' on their way home. 

When she had first started this business, over a year ago, Wufei found these men completely disgusting. They had homes, wives, children and steady jobs. What more could they need? Why did they have to come to these seedy houses, seeking pleasure from nameless teens half their age? 

After 6 months on the job, the L5 pilot began to realize that these men were not perverts, but just lonely. There were parts of them that their families would never understand, parts of them that their plain, homely wives could never satisfy. 

And for that, she would be there. 

While reviewing this strange change of her personality in her head, she was posing and murmuring tantalizing offers just loud enough to be heard over the hubbub of the crowd, turning the ears of some of the more na•ve businessmen pink with embarassment 

With soldier's eyes, she scans the crowd, looking for troublemakers and those who would probably be excellent customers, with a bit of persuasion. 

Wufei' eyes continued rolling lazily over the crowd, until her fingers tightened on the balcony's fencing, eyes narrowing. Edging his way through the street is a tall, lithe figure, clad in black. 

Deep in the recesses of her cocaine-addled mind, she realizes that she knows that figure, intimately. And not in the same way that she 'knows' half the men wandering down the street, but on a personal level. 

He turns slowly, and a long, snake of a chestnut braid whips with the movement. Strange violet eyes scan the brothel's balconies, surveying the collection of well-fleshed bodies out for display. 

Those alien, wide eyes-so odd to see in China, met Wufei's own deep brown. Instantly, the connection is made. 

Duo Maxwell. Shinigami. Deathscythe. 

Dozens of images flash through her hazy brain. A wide, sinister grin, a swathe of white teeth in darkness. A black gundam's eyes flashing green. Racous laughter, and oddly, a bottle of champagne. A wet, drunken kiss under mistletoe. 

The images continue to swarm, even as the thin, battered girl slides backwards, darkness overcoming her vision. 

---- 

Duo watched as the eerily familliar girl swayed, then collapsed, leaving the Preventer to gape at an empty balcony on the crowded street. 

------------------

tbc  
The next chapter! Early!  
As always, I thank my naggy liddle muse-thing, and of course, Ei Pi, for giving me bits of Chinese culture and language to stick into this bugger.   
Expect an update on the 22nd 

Please R&R! 


	3. Story of the Three Kingdoms

Chasing the Dragon

By Mudpie

Rating: R

Warnings: Drugs! Sex! Prostitution! LESBIANS!

Disclaimer: Not mine. NOTHING!

AN: This is a bit…late. Gomen! I've been ill and bogged down by…schoolwork.

Key! This chapter needs a key!

_It's a dream! Or a nightmare. Or a hallucination_.

* * *

_"The first time I saw you I knew we would be together forever."_

_Two girls were lounging in a flower filled field, pulling apart daisies._

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Wufei asked, squinting against the sun to gaze at Merian, who was silhouetted against the artificial L5 sunshine._

_"You and I. It's like our ancestors brought us together. We're meant--"_

_Wufei quickly tackled her lover, silencing her with a kiss._

_Although they could not be any older than fifteen, they were very much in love._

_"I mean it, 'Fei." Merian ran her hand through Wufei's silken hair with a misty smile. "We must see that nothing separates us."_

_"Always and forever." Wufei promised, her girlish smile fading as the lights began to dim and the weather system kicked in, giving the flowers their daily watering._

_"I should go, Meiran. The elders will be wondering where I've gone..." With that, she rolled off the other girl, only to be jerked back by a slim hand around her wrist._

_"Stay, airen?" Merian pled, her almond-shaped eyes sad. "Just stay?"_

_"What's wrong, love?"_

* * *

The first thing Wufei felt during her abrupt, warrior-like return to consciousness was the fact that there was a dagger wedged firmly between her brows.

One large black eye cracked open with an almost audible squeak, although her brain was trying to figure out why she wasn't dead. A thick blade to the forehead was supposed to stop your eyes from opening.

Sunlight was streaming through red gossamer curtains, casting an odd, fiery glow about the clean order of the owner's private rooms, a place that Wufei was definitely not used to waking up.

Frail, finely boned hands found their way up her familiar face, checking for damage.

When her hands did not encounter the hilt of a blade wedged between her eyes, but smooth skin, the second eye opened warily, as if it were afraid that appearing completely would acknowledge the reality of her blinding headache.

Madam Xiu Qian, the brothel's owner, made her ponderous way over to the soft bed her favorite prostitute was currently lounging on.

"Mei, you overdosed again. This is beginning to get serious. Dr. Liau said that your brain is bleeding." Her Standard was heavily accented, but the concern was obvious.

_Mei. That's my name._ Wufei stirred slightly, testing the limits of her strength.

"I'm sorry, Madam..." She broke off, wincing. Even her own voice, rough from disuse, caused her poor head to throb.

The homely woman sighed, eying the prone figure strewn across the large bed.

"Can you work tonight, Mei? You're in the courtyard, dancing."

"Of course, Madam." Wufei's reply was obedient, as ever, even though she could feel every damaged cell in her brain throb with the thought of standing, let alone the complicated movements of The Gossamer Dragon's signature fan dance.

* * *

It was an hour until sundown, and Chang Wufei, the last member of the Dragon clan, was going insane.

Following the doctor's orders, she abstained from using cocaine. Her mind was too fragile, and another dose so quickly would simply cause another attack, or even worse, a seizure.

Instead she injected cool water into a vein in her thigh, hoping that the liquid would cool her aching head and prevent the cravings that she knew would soon send her into fits of paranoia and mood swings.

Unfortunately, it wasn't working.

The thin girl paced the tiny rectangular room, hands constantly rubbing together, hardly keeping tempo with her rapidly racing heart.

The L5 pilot paused in her constant race against her shadow, drawn out against the worn wooden floors behind her, to peer at her reflection in the one luxury allowed to each whore in their rooms: a cheap full length mirror, blackening around the edges with age, and warped.

Her image stared back at her, with wide, nervous eyes, their slant emphasized with far too much black kohl liner.

Nervous, sweating hands adjusted the costume pieced together by the Madam herself, the tight-fitting top that was in reality just a strip of cloth tied firmly about her chest was given a final tug.

Wufei then picked up the fans that were such an important part of her signature dance, carefully testing them with deft, practiced flicks.

With surprise she looked down at the now open fans, which were gold with several white flowers gracing the folds. Her scholar's mind automatically supplied the Madam's obscure reference to a famous Chinese opera.

"Peonies…" she murmured, a rare smile making her look her age.

"Mei!" A girl, who could not be a day over six, flung open the door to Wufei's darkened room. "Madam Xiu wants you o-"

The teen spun quickly, forgetting that she was just a simple prostitute and dropping quickly into a fighter's defensive crouch.

The small girl froze at the intense glare that pinned her to the opposing wall.

"…in ten minutes." She finished weakly, her tiny hands grabbing at the wall behind her in defense.

"Fine." The door slammed in the young girl's face, leaving her to scurry down the corridor to her mother's rooms.

* * *

A warm summer breeze crept into the lavish courtyard of Madam Xiu Qian's famed brothel, toying with the rich red curtains like a teasing child and threatening to gut the torches that staved away the oncoming darkness.

This well traveled summer breeze brought with it the earthy scent of rice paddies to the south, which chased away the fetid, lingering scents of refuse and despair that slums are so fond of.

The southerly zephyr paused in its mocking of dance to watch the scene play out below.

* * *

With all the confidence of a master martial artist, Wufei strolled into the courtyard via an elegantly draped entrance. Muted conversations dropped off one by one as all of The Gossamer Dragon's prized customers turned to watch.

The slight figure stood completely still, her breathing visible only through the slight rise and fall of red and blue fabrics down her porcelain skinned back.

The over sized fans snapped open, hiding her slim body and enticing the crowd with their elegant golden sheen.

Somewhere above the courtyard a gong sounded, breaking the spell and setting the girl into a frenzy of precise movements very similar to Wufei's once-loved katas.

The ex-pilot's double-time heart beat calmed immediately, the cravings inflicted on her body pushed aside at once as she lost herself in the steady beat of drums that throbbed through the heady summer air like a pulse.

* * *

Unbeknownst to all but the sprightly summer breeze, a crew of highly trained agents prowled through the brothel's filthy corridors, silently arresting the sinners within.

* * *

Hmmm…things begin to get INTERESTING! 

Next chapter in two weeks (or less, if midterms aren't TOO stressful!)

Please review, or I'll be forced to sing 'Paperback writer' next chapter.


	4. Interlude

Chasing the Dragon

by Mudpie

Rating: R

Warnings: Uh...Let's see here. Graphic drug abuse, prostitution, Girl! Wufei, and of course, angst.

Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Wing, Dorothy would be a main character. With whips.

Gomen, minna! I'm swamped with midterms. And a biiig paper, that took up most of my creativity and research time. So, I'm giving you a tiny little interlude, because that's all I can squeeze out of my poor, overloaded brain at the moment.

I'm working on the fourth chapter! Expect it out by next weekend.

Warning: This is all a dream.

Enjoy!

----_  
_

_The beautiful field of flowers stirred in a false breeze, the sun gleaming copper in the fashion of long forgotten memories._

_Wufei, her hair unbound and tangling around in the warm winds, stretched and placed a daisy in between the crisp white pages of her book to mark her place. _

_Suddenly the world rolled around, so that she was facing the plate metal, the backbone of the colony in its never-ending curve. On top of her was a pleasant weight, girl-scented and panting._

_"'Fei! Reading again?"_

_Wufei grinned sheepishly at her girlfriend, pushing her glasses back up her nose. _

_"Yeah…this is the only place I can concentrate."_

_Meiran's lips curved in a gentle smile. _

_"You're such a bookworm!"_

_"Am not!" In a swift, trained movement the smaller girl flipped her lover over and lounged across her stomach, thick reading glasses still intact._

_Meiran's hands caught in her lover's hair, running her fingers through the silken black mass, practically causing Wufei to purr in content._

_"I have bad news, 'Fei."_

_Wide black eyes, sliding nearly shut, snapped back open in an instant._

_"Your engagement went through, didn't it?"_

_The taller girl's deep, pained breath made Wufei's head bob up, then back down._

_"Yes. I am to marry Treize Kushrenada in two months."_

_Wufei jumped up, fists clenched and teeth bared. This was an old, cankerous spot between the two. _

_"Why didn't you say no? It's not right! He's a haui dan! We cannot trust him!"_

_Meiran sprang to her feet as well, eyes full of tears._

_"I've tried! But this is the only way to let my clan survive! I have to do this!"_

_The rain began to fall around the two girls, right on time as always. Unknowingly, it masked the tears streaming down Meiran's face and plastered Wufei's long black hair down her back and onto her face_

_"W-what do you mean?" Wufei's voice was small, almost inaudible over the pitter-patter of rain on white petals._

_"I think you know what I mean." Meiran's voice shook with implacable emotion, as if she were unable to believe what she was saying. "I can't do this anymore, Chang."_

_The teen's shoulders tensed and slowly, her glasses slid down her nose._

_Meiran's fingers itched to push them back up, but she fought the urge tooth and_

_nail, finally winning over the impulse and bringing her hands back to her sides._

_"I hope-"_

_But whatever Wufei hoped was stifled by the rattling of the colonies' thin walls. _

_Mobile suits were approaching._

-----

A giant thank you to my reviewers! You keep me going, honestly.

See you next week!


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